A great definition I came across for a business several years ago was as follows:
“The exchange (sale) of GOODS or SERVICES or BOTH by a seller (business owner) to a buyer (the customer) for VALUE ($ the price) with a view to the seller making a PROFIT”
It has all the key elements! Goods, services, or both; a seller; a buyer; value; and profit! And it’s these elements that generate profit, that I want to focus on this week. More specifically, let’s take a look at finding the reason why people buy from you. It is the foundation of your customer strategy.
Individuals and organisations buy to satisfy needs, wants and desires. The decision making process is different for individuals and organisations, but their outcomes are the same – value!
Needs are the basic drivers of customers to take action. Wherever there’s a gap between the current and the desired state, an unsatisfied need exists and therefore potential for an exchange. The gap can be physical or psychological and can be made larger by asking the right questions.
When looking for the reasons why people buy from you, you need to look for problems that customers are trying to solve. Then you need to build your sales process around the consequences of not resolving the problem and the benefit of eliminating the problem. This is very closely tied to the age-old principle that people will typically do far more to address dissatisfaction, than they will to achieve something they desire.
Do you understand the information search process that your customers go through? How do they approach the task of looking for and finding the right products or services for them? Can you make it easier to find your information for your target market? Think of all the places you have right now where people can access information about you. Are you in enough places? The answer is typically no.
Do you understand the criteria customers use to evaluate their purchase decisions (e.g. price, quality, volume, after sales support, ease of use)? When you understand that people buy problem solutions and not the nuts and bolts of a product, you can tweak your marketing message to focus on the criteria the client uses knowing what problem your product or service is trying to solve. By the way, if you haven’t worked that out yet, go and do that now!
There is so much more on this topic to go into.
One more thing! Remember that emotion has a massive effect on buying behaviour. Do your products prevent or reduce unpleasant emotions? For example, flowers are a great cure for sadness. Or do your products arouse a positive emotion? For example, “Oh what a feeling!”
Look at your product and services through the eyes of the customer and tweak your messages to appeal to their emotions.
Build massive momentum!
